On Tuesday night, an opportunity for revenge and pride revealed itself against Chicago. In a season full of regret, one of the Suns' more regrettable nights had been a November home game in which they blew a 23-point lead and lost to the Bulls in double overtime.

This time, it was the going-nowhere Suns trailing by 22 against a Chicago team trying to clinch the East's top seed when they summoned the will to atone for that past game's collapse and this game's lethargy. They rallied. They cared. But in the end, they just disappointed again, losing 97-94 to Chicago at United Center after failing to get off a shot to tie on the final possession.

"It seems like we've been talking about it all year," Suns forward Grant Hill said. "We're just not getting it done. It was like the season in a nutshell - just good enough to lose."

The Suns played a tight first quarter but quickly disintegrated when their scoring could not keep up with Chicago's steady march to the free-throw line. The Bulls shot 20 first-half free throws to Phoenix's two, starting to pull away when Suns backup center Robin Lopez committed four fouls in the second quarter's first three minutes. The Suns had their lowest scoring second quarter of the season to trail 53-40 and trailed by 22 three times in the third quarter before rallying.

A switch to zone defense stunted Chicago, keeping the Bulls out of the lane and prompting missed jump shots while guard Vince Carter picked up his scoring with post-ups and drives off mismatches, 3-pointers and an alleyoop off an Aaron Brooks laser that he caught at his waist and still dunked. Carter scored 19 of his 23 points in the final 15 minutes.

"Twenty to two in the free-throw game in the first half isn't acceptable," Carter said. "It means we weren't being aggressive.

"I'm trying to do what I can do, give us a spark off the bench and bring another aspect to our team. I wanted to be aggressive and make plays. If we had half of the effort we have in the second half in the first half, it's a better game and we don't have to fight up a steep hill."

The Suns' zone defense got them back in the game but they played mostly man defense in the fourth quarter and Steve Nash even was on Derrick Rose, who 6 for 15 from the field, for most of the game instead of Hill. A 33-13 push pulled the Suns to within two for the first time with 5:05 remaining on a Hill baseline drive.

The Suns would cut the lead to two three more times but never tie the game, getting a shot-clock violation after a time out and missing four shots when the score was 91-89.

"Once we started coming up with stops, obviously we could get in the open court and run and make some good things happen," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "At the end of the day, we have to play the way we played the second half when the game is even and not when we're 22 down."

Trailing 96-94, Carter fouled Kyle Korver with 13.1 seconds to play. Korver, an 88 percent free throw shooter, missed the first and made the second, leaving the Suns with 13.1 seconds and no time outs. The Suns intended to run a play that would set up a Channing Frye 3-pointer but agile center Joakim Noah switched onto Nash, who could not find an open shooter or take a 3 over the 7-footer. He drove, looking for a quick basket and passed to Marcin Gortat, who missed a jump hook with two seconds to go.

Nash had 16 assists but none in the fourth quarter, when his recent flu left him weak.

"When you get down like that, you have to play perfect at the end," Frye said. "Regardless of whether we have something to play for, Coach wants us to play hard and I think we are. It's just a matter of playing hard in the right direction."

View from press row

The Suns did not shoot as well as usual Tuesday but better than most teams do against Chicago, whose league-leading defensive field-goal percentage is credited largely to first-year coach Tom Thibodeau's influence. In 2007, then-Suns General Manager Steve Kerr wanted to hire Thibodeau to replace Marc Iavaroni on the Suns' staff after Thibodeau was part of the Jeff Van Gundy staff that was fired in Houston. Thibodeau interviewed but wound up with Boston when Mike D'Antoni resisted hiring Thibodeau in part because of the Suns' success vs. Houston and his reluctance to put him over existing staff.

Report

Key player

Bulls center Joakim Noah returned from three games out with an ankle sprain and had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Key moment

Down three with 13 seconds to go, the Suns failed to take a 3-pointer.

Key number

18: Free-throw shooting advantage (20-2) for Chicago in the first half.